Absurd Singularity

But then they noticed too many Jews were getting in, so they changed the criteria to account for more intangible aspects -- character. Part of this was no doubt anti-semitism, but it’s also marketing.

Much like Asians today, who are getting admitted to college at astonishing rates, and are aspiring to be part of an elite, the Jews wouldn’t want to be part of an institution where there were too many Jews. And that accounting for intangibles continues today.

The writer, Malcolm Gladwell, also addresses the wisdom of this policy of shying away from what would appear to be the most objective criterion of college admission, intellectual brainpower.

I used to be quite proud that the U of C’s admissions placed so much weight on this as a factor for entry, and not sports, like some state schools do, or legacies, like private schools do. But now that I’ve been out in the world – and especially as a U of C grad – I understand brainpower is far from the only determinant of success.

As Gladwell pointedly writes: “If you let in only the brilliant, then you produced bookworms and bench scientists: you ended up as socially irrelevant as the University of Chicago (an institution Harvard officials looked upon and shuddered).”

Gladwell also points out that colleges don’t just exist to better their students: they exist to perpetuate themselves and their brand.

So giving admission to athletes makes sense, because they are more likely to become leaders and world-shapers than the guy who spends all his time in the library, and giving admission to legacy candidates makes sense, because it encourages their parents to give.

Life’s not fair, is it? But at least we know now.

The article got me thinking about how long I’d lived with this illusion – and whether I had any regrets. I think the kind of kids that go to the U of C come from families that simply place a high value on education – Asians among them – but some of these families no doubt think a top-notch brand-name education is the key to success.

It’s a belief that certainly pervades the school. Think about all that time we spent as students bragging about how much we’d studied or planned to study, when we could have been doing other things to develop other skills that would contribute to future success.

I don’t have any regrets about going. I’m happy where my U of C degree has taken me. But I don’t think my values are the same as my parents’, and the values I don’t think the values I’d exercise on any child of mine would point them in that direction… but that’s not to say I wouldn’t send a child of mine to the U of C. I’d just make sure he or she was well-rounded enough to survive and enjoy it.